Compare and contrast the reign of Peter the Great of Russia and Louis XIV of France.
Outline: Introduction -The 17th Century saw the height of absolutism in Europe. The monarchs Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 to 1715, and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682 to 1725, both obtained absolute power in their states.
-Thesis: Both subjugated nobles, both developed armies, and both failed to address social inequalities.
I. Subjugated Nobles (Political) - Both Louis and Peter were traumatized early in their reigns by noble uprisings.
A. Louis
- The Fronde, an attempt by French nobles to decentralize the government by limiting the king’s power, began in 1650
- Because Louis was at that time too young to rule, Cardinal Mazarin was the administrator.
- With help from the bourgeoisie and peasants, who had little to gain from a noble takeover (a return to feudalistic society), Mazarin suppressed the Fronde.
- However, Louis never trusted the nobles and spent a great deal of resources to control them
- He built the massive palace complex at Versailles as a way to bring the nobles into his watch.
- Since each noble wanted to be invited to Versailles and be close to the king, it created competition among the nobles, which kept them from collaboratively conspiring against the king.
- He also appointed bourgeoisie to high positions in his administration.
B. Peter
- Likewise, Peter’s tour of Western Europe was cut short in 1689 when the strelski, the noble-born Moscow garrison.
- Peter dealt with the troublemakers swiftly and ruthlessly, killing thousands.
- To weaken the nobles he created a Service Nobility, and demanded that all nobles, in Russia called boyars, serve either in the civil service or in the military.
- In 1722 he issued the Table of Ranks, which recognized merit before birth as the source of privilege
- He also taxed the boyars significantly, and was, unlike Louis, able to break the economic monopoly of the nobles.
II. Developed Armies (Military) -The army is a key instrument in the foreign policy of an absolute monarch, since it draws attention away from internal problems by creating a sense of security and patriotism.
A. Louis
- Two thirds of Louis’s seventy-two year rule was spent at war
- French expansionism reached its height (Peace of Utrecht)
- He introduced the army to artillery, reformed the chain of command, and increased the size of the army tenfold from 25,000 men to 250,000, at times even reaching 400,000, the biggest army in Europe.
- However, because France often challenged the balance of power principle and faced resistance from all Europe, his wars were largely unsuccessful and resulted in an insurmountable national debt.
B. Peter was much more successful militarily.
- He brought back from his Grand Tour the Prussian organization and discipline and applied it to the Russian rabble army.
- His reforms were tested immediately in 1700 by Charles XII of Sweden in the Great Northern War.
- The more experienced Swedes initially held the upper hand, but as the Russian army developed, they began to hold their own and eventually beat back the Swedes at Poltava in 1709, marking the first signs of Russia’s prominence.
- In 1721, Peter signed the Treaty of Nystad, granting him the Baltic States and the all-important water access.
- He built his new, Western capital city, St. Petersburg, on the Gulf of Finland.
III. Failed to Address Social Inequalities and Economic Issues (Social/Economic) -However great their military and political reforms were, they both failed to address the long term economic and social problems of their nations.
A. Louis
- Louis hired Jean-Baptiste Colbert to try to alleviate the economic difficulties
- Colbert invented Mercantilism, an economic system by which exports exceed imports to maximize profit and create a self-sufficient state
- He improved the infrastructure of France and developed a merchant marine.
- However, Colbert’s reforms came as too little too late, and failed to address the real problem in Louis’s taxation policies. Louis could not tax the nobles because the Estates Generals voted on tax policy.
- Because the Estates General, composed of clergy, nobles, and the rest, voted by estate, the nobles and clergy voted together and thus avoided taxes.
- Louis could not sufficiently tax the nobles and instead relied on the bourgeoisie and peasants to pay inordinate taxes.
- In France, the nobles refused to pay taxes and still didn’t like Louis; they just couldn’t do anything about it.
B. Peter
- Peter taxed the nobles’ beards; the nobles still sided with him on everything.
- Nevertheless, under Peter the life of serfs did not change dramatically, though still in some ways better than the free French peasants suffered under Louis
-Reflecting these problems, both countries saw peasant uprisings within the century after the two kings died: the Pugachev Rebellion and the French Revolution.
- However, where the Pugachev Rebellion was simply another peasant uprising and was easily quelled, the French Revolution was backed by nobles and bourgeoisie, and was much more successful.
Conclusion
Louis XIV of France and Peter the Great of Russia both obtained and maintained absolute power by political reform and military conquest, but both failed to address the long term social problems. In light of these factors, it is safe to say that Peter ruled more successfully, whether because France had so much more competition than Russia, or whether Louis simply inherited deep-rooted problems. Even so, they both ruled their countries effectively.
The 17th Century saw the height of absolutism in Europe. The monarchs Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 to 1715, and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682 to 1725, both obtained absolute power in their states. Both subjugated nobles, both developed armies, and both failed to address social inequalities.
Both Louis and Peter were traumatized early in their reigns by noble uprisings. The Fronde, an attempt by French nobles to decentralize the government by limiting the king’s power, began in 1650. Because Louis was at that time too young to rule, Cardinal Mazarin was the administrator. With help from the bourgeoisie and peasants, who had little to gain from a noble takeover (a return to feudalistic society), Mazarin suppressed the Fronde. However, Louis never trusted the nobles and spent a great deal of resources to control them. He built the massive palace complex at Versailles as a way to bring the nobles into his watch. Since each noble wanted to be invited to Versailles and be close to the king, it created competition among the nobles, which kept them from collaboratively conspiring against the king. He also appointed bourgeoisie to high positions in his administration. Thus Louis was able to keep the nobles satisfied yet subdued. Likewise, Peter’s tour of Western Europe was cut short in 1689 when the strelski, the noble-born Moscow garrison. Peter dealt with the troublemakers swiftly and ruthlessly, killing thousands. To weaken the nobles he created a Service Nobility, and demanded that all nobles, in Russia called boyars, serve either in the civil service or in the military. In 1722 he issued the Table of Ranks, which recognized merit before birth as the source of privilege. He also taxed the boyars significantly, and was, unlike Louis, able to break the economic monopoly of the nobles.
The army is a key instrument in the foreign policy of an absolute monarch, since it draws attention away from internal problems by creating a sense of security and patriotism. Two thirds of Louis’s seventy-two year rule was spent at war, and under him, French expansionism reached its height (specifically at the Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of Spanish Succession). He introduced the army to artillery, reformed the chain of command, and increased the size of the army tenfold from 25,000 men to 250,000, at times even reaching 400,000, the biggest army in Europe. However, because France often challenged the balance of power principle and faced resistance from all Europe, his wars were largely unsuccessful and resulted in an insurmountable national debt. Peter was much more successful militarily. He brought back from his Grand Tour the Prussian organization and discipline and applied it to the Russian rabble army. His reforms were tested immediately in 1700 by Charles XII of Sweden in the Great Northern War. The more experienced Swedes initially held the upper hand, but as the Russian army developed, they began to hold their own and eventually beat back the Swedes at Poltava in 1709, marking the first signs of Russia’s prominence. In 1721, Peter signed the Treaty of Nystad, granting him the Baltic States and the all-important water access. He built his new, Western inspired capital city, St. Petersburg, on the Gulf of Finland.
However great their military and political reforms were, they both failed to address the long term economic and social problems of their nations. Louis hired Jean-Baptiste Colbert to try to alleviate the economic difficulties. Colbert invented Mercantilism, an economic system by which exports exceed imports to maximize profit and create a self-sufficient state. He improved the infrastructure of France and developed a merchant marine. However, Colbert’s reforms came as too little too late, and failed to address the real problem in Louis’s taxation policies. Louis could not tax the nobles because the Estates Generals voted on tax policy. Because the Estates General, composed of clergy, nobles, and the rest, voted by estate, the nobles and clergy voted together and thus avoided taxes. Louis could not sufficiently tax the nobles and instead relied on the bourgeoisie and peasants to pay inordinate taxes. If Louis could, like Peter, bypass the legislative body, which in Russia was so weak that Peter could practically rule without it, he could have taxed, as Peter did, the nobles on everything. Peter taxed the nobles’ beards, and yet the nobles still sided with him on everything. In France, the nobles refused to pay taxes and still didn’t like Louis; they just couldn’t do anything about it. Nevertheless, under Peter the life of serfs did not change dramatically, though still in some ways better than the free French peasants suffered under Louis. Reflecting these problems, both countries saw peasant uprisings within the century after the two kings died: the Pugachev Rebellion and the French Revolution. However, where the Pugachev Rebellion was simply another peasant uprising and was easily quelled, the French Revolution was backed by nobles and bourgeoisie, and was much more successful.
Louis XIV of France and Peter the Great of Russia both obtained and maintained absolute power by political reform and military conquest, but both failed to address the long term social problems. In light of these factors, it is safe to say that Peter ruled more successfully, whether because France had so much more competition than Russia, or whether Louis simply inherited deep-rooted problems. Even so, they both ruled their countries effectively.
Alternate Essay:
Although Louis XIV, the sun king, who ruled France from 1643-1715, and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682-1725, both desired a greater state power, they each attempted to obtain and maintain this power in different economic, political, military, and religious ways. Both Louis XIV and Peter the Great (a self-given title) worked toward obtaining a greater state power. They thought that this was very important and attempted to ensure it by subjugating the nobles to their power and expanding the territory of their states.
Religious - Louis XIV was a Catholic king who opposed religious toleration, and he believed that "une loi, une roi, une foi" (one law, one king, and one faith) were required to maintain unity in France. In keeping with this, he published the Edict of Fountainbleau in 1685, which revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed freedom of worship to Huguenots since 1598. Peter controlled the Russian Orthodox Church by replacing the office of the patriarch with the Holy Synod in 1721. The Synod was a bureaucracy of lay-people under the control of the crown. While Louis used excessive money and manpower to maintain Versailles, Peter began the construction of St. Petersburg in 1701, Russia's "window to the west," a symbol of his desire to westernize Russia.
Political - However, Louis XIV did not just maintain absolute control over religion in France, he wished to subjugate all of France's social groups, especially the nobles. Because of the Fronde, Louis never fully truted the nobles and spent the rest of his life and a great deal of his resources ensuring that he always had them under control. Equally Peter faced opposition from the Moscow garrison- the strelski. In 1689, while Peter was on his Grand Tour, the strelski rebelled, forcing peter to return home. Once back in Russia Peter dealt with the troublemakers with ruthless efficiency. Thousands died in his purge. While Louis often struggled to control them, he also ensured their collaboration. Louis granted them high social status but increased their military obligations, similar to the tactics used by Peter the Great, who created a service nobility. Louis also limited their power by excluding the highest nobles from his councils and much like the Tudors, he depended more on the educated middle class. French nobles were also 'invited' to spend time at Versailles instead of on their own estates, which made it much easier for Louis to keep tabs on them with his many spies.
The goal of Peter's rule was to Westernize Russia, which could be considered modeling his country after France, but this westernization caused the emergence of a new, more educated Russian class, widening the split between nobles and the peasants, who were still tied to serfdom. Russian peasants suffered from much poorer standards of living than in France, and the Russian nobles, called Boyars, had to serve rulers to gain land. In 1722 Peter created the Table of Ranks, which classified the nobles into military, administrative, and court, categories. Social advancement depended on service to the crown. This was Peter's way of attempting to subjugate the Boyars, along with taxing the Boyars to maintain control, and strengthened authoritarian traditions.
Military - The sun king was famous because under him, France reached the height of its expansionism. The army increased tenfold, and for 48 of his 72 years in power, the country was at war. Louis developed the commissariat to feed the troops, an ambulance corps, standard uniforms and weapons, and a rational system of training for soldiers. He gained a lot of territory, but was finally defeated in the War of Spanish Succession, with the Peace of Utrecht marking the end of his expansionist policy just two years before his death. Although he expanded the territory, the wars seemed to be a search for glory rather than the benefit of the country, because the state did not have proper funding for his wars. Peter the Great of Russia (1682-1725) also sought to expand his territory through extensive wars for self-glorification rather than political strategy, very similar to the ongoing wars of Louis XIV which ended up hurting France economically. Also like Louis, he created a larger, more professional, and westernized army, so unlike his predecessors he was able to maintain control and uniformity and fought in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) against the 18-year-old Charles XII of Sweden. Peter's army defeated the Swedish at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and eventually won the war, signing the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 which granted Peter his "window to the west" in the Baltic States.
Economic - Even his brilliant economic advisor, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, was not able to pay off the debt. Colbert introduced the policy of mercantilism to France, which stated that a country's strength depends on its wealth, and that exports should exceed a country's imports in order to create a self-sufficient state. While the goal of both systems is self-sufficiency, mercantilism is very different and arguably much more beneficial than Russia's serfdom, which entails an almost nonexistent middle class and relies on the peasants' attachment to their land and lords. Colbert recognized the importance of improving roads and canals to help with communication, and he made a merchant marine to transport French goods.
Peter the Great is famous for the Baroque movement, which lasted from about 1550-1725 (the end of his rule) and was marked by Gothic Cathedrals and symbolized the age of absolutist power. Unlike Peter the Great's Baroque movement, French Classicism was the late 17th century's prevailing art style; Nicholas Poussin was the greatest artist of the time, famous for the Rape of the Sabine women.
(write your own conclusion =))
Compare and contrast the reign of Peter the Great of Russia and Louis XIV of France.
Outline:
Introduction
-The 17th Century saw the height of absolutism in Europe. The monarchs Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 to 1715, and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682 to 1725, both obtained absolute power in their states.
-Thesis: Both subjugated nobles, both developed armies, and both failed to address social inequalities.
I. Subjugated Nobles (Political)
- Both Louis and Peter were traumatized early in their reigns by noble uprisings.
A. Louis
- The Fronde, an attempt by French nobles to decentralize the government by limiting the king’s power, began in 1650
- Because Louis was at that time too young to rule, Cardinal Mazarin was the administrator.
- With help from the bourgeoisie and peasants, who had little to gain from a noble takeover (a return to feudalistic society), Mazarin suppressed the Fronde.
- However, Louis never trusted the nobles and spent a great deal of resources to control them
- He built the massive palace complex at Versailles as a way to bring the nobles into his watch.
- Since each noble wanted to be invited to Versailles and be close to the king, it created competition among the nobles, which kept them from collaboratively conspiring against the king.
- He also appointed bourgeoisie to high positions in his administration.
B. Peter
- Likewise, Peter’s tour of Western Europe was cut short in 1689 when the strelski, the noble-born Moscow garrison.
- Peter dealt with the troublemakers swiftly and ruthlessly, killing thousands.
- To weaken the nobles he created a Service Nobility, and demanded that all nobles, in Russia called boyars, serve either in the civil service or in the military.
- In 1722 he issued the Table of Ranks, which recognized merit before birth as the source of privilege
- He also taxed the boyars significantly, and was, unlike Louis, able to break the economic monopoly of the nobles.
II. Developed Armies (Military)
-The army is a key instrument in the foreign policy of an absolute monarch, since it draws attention away from internal problems by creating a sense of security and patriotism.
A. Louis
- Two thirds of Louis’s seventy-two year rule was spent at war
- French expansionism reached its height (Peace of Utrecht)
- He introduced the army to artillery, reformed the chain of command, and increased the size of the army tenfold from 25,000 men to 250,000, at times even reaching 400,000, the biggest army in Europe.
- However, because France often challenged the balance of power principle and faced resistance from all Europe, his wars were largely unsuccessful and resulted in an insurmountable national debt.
B. Peter was much more successful militarily.
- He brought back from his Grand Tour the Prussian organization and discipline and applied it to the Russian rabble army.
- His reforms were tested immediately in 1700 by Charles XII of Sweden in the Great Northern War.
- The more experienced Swedes initially held the upper hand, but as the Russian army developed, they began to hold their own and eventually beat back the Swedes at Poltava in 1709, marking the first signs of Russia’s prominence.
- In 1721, Peter signed the Treaty of Nystad, granting him the Baltic States and the all-important water access.
- He built his new, Western capital city, St. Petersburg, on the Gulf of Finland.
III. Failed to Address Social Inequalities and Economic Issues (Social/Economic)
-However great their military and political reforms were, they both failed to address the long term economic and social problems of their nations.
A. Louis
- Louis hired Jean-Baptiste Colbert to try to alleviate the economic difficulties
- Colbert invented Mercantilism, an economic system by which exports exceed imports to maximize profit and create a self-sufficient state
- He improved the infrastructure of France and developed a merchant marine.
- However, Colbert’s reforms came as too little too late, and failed to address the real problem in Louis’s taxation policies. Louis could not tax the nobles because the Estates Generals voted on tax policy.
- Because the Estates General, composed of clergy, nobles, and the rest, voted by estate, the nobles and clergy voted together and thus avoided taxes.
- Louis could not sufficiently tax the nobles and instead relied on the bourgeoisie and peasants to pay inordinate taxes.
- In France, the nobles refused to pay taxes and still didn’t like Louis; they just couldn’t do anything about it.
B. Peter
- Peter taxed the nobles’ beards; the nobles still sided with him on everything.
- Nevertheless, under Peter the life of serfs did not change dramatically, though still in some ways better than the free French peasants suffered under Louis
-Reflecting these problems, both countries saw peasant uprisings within the century after the two kings died: the Pugachev Rebellion and the French Revolution.
- However, where the Pugachev Rebellion was simply another peasant uprising and was easily quelled, the French Revolution was backed by nobles and bourgeoisie, and was much more successful.
Conclusion
Louis XIV of France and Peter the Great of Russia both obtained and maintained absolute power by political reform and military conquest, but both failed to address the long term social problems. In light of these factors, it is safe to say that Peter ruled more successfully, whether because France had so much more competition than Russia, or whether Louis simply inherited deep-rooted problems. Even so, they both ruled their countries effectively.
The 17th Century saw the height of absolutism in Europe. The monarchs Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 to 1715, and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682 to 1725, both obtained absolute power in their states. Both subjugated nobles, both developed armies, and both failed to address social inequalities.
Both Louis and Peter were traumatized early in their reigns by noble uprisings. The Fronde, an attempt by French nobles to decentralize the government by limiting the king’s power, began in 1650. Because Louis was at that time too young to rule, Cardinal Mazarin was the administrator. With help from the bourgeoisie and peasants, who had little to gain from a noble takeover (a return to feudalistic society), Mazarin suppressed the Fronde. However, Louis never trusted the nobles and spent a great deal of resources to control them. He built the massive palace complex at Versailles as a way to bring the nobles into his watch. Since each noble wanted to be invited to Versailles and be close to the king, it created competition among the nobles, which kept them from collaboratively conspiring against the king. He also appointed bourgeoisie to high positions in his administration. Thus Louis was able to keep the nobles satisfied yet subdued. Likewise, Peter’s tour of Western Europe was cut short in 1689 when the strelski, the noble-born Moscow garrison. Peter dealt with the troublemakers swiftly and ruthlessly, killing thousands. To weaken the nobles he created a Service Nobility, and demanded that all nobles, in Russia called boyars, serve either in the civil service or in the military. In 1722 he issued the Table of Ranks, which recognized merit before birth as the source of privilege. He also taxed the boyars significantly, and was, unlike Louis, able to break the economic monopoly of the nobles.
The army is a key instrument in the foreign policy of an absolute monarch, since it draws attention away from internal problems by creating a sense of security and patriotism. Two thirds of Louis’s seventy-two year rule was spent at war, and under him, French expansionism reached its height (specifically at the Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of Spanish Succession). He introduced the army to artillery, reformed the chain of command, and increased the size of the army tenfold from 25,000 men to 250,000, at times even reaching 400,000, the biggest army in Europe. However, because France often challenged the balance of power principle and faced resistance from all Europe, his wars were largely unsuccessful and resulted in an insurmountable national debt. Peter was much more successful militarily. He brought back from his Grand Tour the Prussian organization and discipline and applied it to the Russian rabble army. His reforms were tested immediately in 1700 by Charles XII of Sweden in the Great Northern War. The more experienced Swedes initially held the upper hand, but as the Russian army developed, they began to hold their own and eventually beat back the Swedes at Poltava in 1709, marking the first signs of Russia’s prominence. In 1721, Peter signed the Treaty of Nystad, granting him the Baltic States and the all-important water access. He built his new, Western inspired capital city, St. Petersburg, on the Gulf of Finland.
However great their military and political reforms were, they both failed to address the long term economic and social problems of their nations. Louis hired Jean-Baptiste Colbert to try to alleviate the economic difficulties. Colbert invented Mercantilism, an economic system by which exports exceed imports to maximize profit and create a self-sufficient state. He improved the infrastructure of France and developed a merchant marine. However, Colbert’s reforms came as too little too late, and failed to address the real problem in Louis’s taxation policies. Louis could not tax the nobles because the Estates Generals voted on tax policy. Because the Estates General, composed of clergy, nobles, and the rest, voted by estate, the nobles and clergy voted together and thus avoided taxes. Louis could not sufficiently tax the nobles and instead relied on the bourgeoisie and peasants to pay inordinate taxes. If Louis could, like Peter, bypass the legislative body, which in Russia was so weak that Peter could practically rule without it, he could have taxed, as Peter did, the nobles on everything. Peter taxed the nobles’ beards, and yet the nobles still sided with him on everything. In France, the nobles refused to pay taxes and still didn’t like Louis; they just couldn’t do anything about it. Nevertheless, under Peter the life of serfs did not change dramatically, though still in some ways better than the free French peasants suffered under Louis. Reflecting these problems, both countries saw peasant uprisings within the century after the two kings died: the Pugachev Rebellion and the French Revolution. However, where the Pugachev Rebellion was simply another peasant uprising and was easily quelled, the French Revolution was backed by nobles and bourgeoisie, and was much more successful.
Louis XIV of France and Peter the Great of Russia both obtained and maintained absolute power by political reform and military conquest, but both failed to address the long term social problems. In light of these factors, it is safe to say that Peter ruled more successfully, whether because France had so much more competition than Russia, or whether Louis simply inherited deep-rooted problems. Even so, they both ruled their countries effectively.
Alternate Essay:
Although Louis XIV, the sun king, who ruled France from 1643-1715, and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia from 1682-1725, both desired a greater state power, they each attempted to obtain and maintain this power in different economic, political, military, and religious ways. Both Louis XIV and Peter the Great (a self-given title) worked toward obtaining a greater state power. They thought that this was very important and attempted to ensure it by subjugating the nobles to their power and expanding the territory of their states.
Religious - Louis XIV was a Catholic king who opposed religious toleration, and he believed that "une loi, une roi, une foi" (one law, one king, and one faith) were required to maintain unity in France. In keeping with this, he published the Edict of Fountainbleau in 1685, which revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed freedom of worship to Huguenots since 1598. Peter controlled the Russian Orthodox Church by replacing the office of the patriarch with the Holy Synod in 1721. The Synod was a bureaucracy of lay-people under the control of the crown. While Louis used excessive money and manpower to maintain Versailles, Peter began the construction of St. Petersburg in 1701, Russia's "window to the west," a symbol of his desire to westernize Russia.
Political - However, Louis XIV did not just maintain absolute control over religion in France, he wished to subjugate all of France's social groups, especially the nobles. Because of the Fronde, Louis never fully truted the nobles and spent the rest of his life and a great deal of his resources ensuring that he always had them under control. Equally Peter faced opposition from the Moscow garrison- the strelski. In 1689, while Peter was on his Grand Tour, the strelski rebelled, forcing peter to return home. Once back in Russia Peter dealt with the troublemakers with ruthless efficiency. Thousands died in his purge. While Louis often struggled to control them, he also ensured their collaboration. Louis granted them high social status but increased their military obligations, similar to the tactics used by Peter the Great, who created a service nobility. Louis also limited their power by excluding the highest nobles from his councils and much like the Tudors, he depended more on the educated middle class. French nobles were also 'invited' to spend time at Versailles instead of on their own estates, which made it much easier for Louis to keep tabs on them with his many spies.
The goal of Peter's rule was to Westernize Russia, which could be considered modeling his country after France, but this westernization caused the emergence of a new, more educated Russian class, widening the split between nobles and the peasants, who were still tied to serfdom. Russian peasants suffered from much poorer standards of living than in France, and the Russian nobles, called Boyars, had to serve rulers to gain land. In 1722 Peter created the Table of Ranks, which classified the nobles into military, administrative, and court, categories. Social advancement depended on service to the crown. This was Peter's way of attempting to subjugate the Boyars, along with taxing the Boyars to maintain control, and strengthened authoritarian traditions.
Military - The sun king was famous because under him, France reached the height of its expansionism. The army increased tenfold, and for 48 of his 72 years in power, the country was at war. Louis developed the commissariat to feed the troops, an ambulance corps, standard uniforms and weapons, and a rational system of training for soldiers. He gained a lot of territory, but was finally defeated in the War of Spanish Succession, with the Peace of Utrecht marking the end of his expansionist policy just two years before his death. Although he expanded the territory, the wars seemed to be a search for glory rather than the benefit of the country, because the state did not have proper funding for his wars. Peter the Great of Russia (1682-1725) also sought to expand his territory through extensive wars for self-glorification rather than political strategy, very similar to the ongoing wars of Louis XIV which ended up hurting France economically. Also like Louis, he created a larger, more professional, and westernized army, so unlike his predecessors he was able to maintain control and uniformity and fought in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) against the 18-year-old Charles XII of Sweden. Peter's army defeated the Swedish at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 and eventually won the war, signing the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 which granted Peter his "window to the west" in the Baltic States.
Economic - Even his brilliant economic advisor, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, was not able to pay off the debt. Colbert introduced the policy of mercantilism to France, which stated that a country's strength depends on its wealth, and that exports should exceed a country's imports in order to create a self-sufficient state. While the goal of both systems is self-sufficiency, mercantilism is very different and arguably much more beneficial than Russia's serfdom, which entails an almost nonexistent middle class and relies on the peasants' attachment to their land and lords. Colbert recognized the importance of improving roads and canals to help with communication, and he made a merchant marine to transport French goods.
Peter the Great is famous for the Baroque movement, which lasted from about 1550-1725 (the end of his rule) and was marked by Gothic Cathedrals and symbolized the age of absolutist power. Unlike Peter the Great's Baroque movement, French Classicism was the late 17th century's prevailing art style; Nicholas Poussin was the greatest artist of the time, famous for the Rape of the Sabine women.
(write your own conclusion =))